incomplete dom gene

[mr.spooky]

Incomplete dominant gene... What is it, and is there a BP that represents this?
thanks
spooky

[mr.spooky]

Thanks

[dr del]

Heh,

Its another of those terms we use the wrong label for in the bp world.

We call it co-dom.

So pastels etc.

At least, this is my current level of misunderstanding.


dr del

[mr.spooky]

Heh,

Its another of those terms we use the wrong label for in the bp world.

We call it co-dom.

So pastels etc.

At least, this is my current level of misunderstanding.


dr del

i was under the impression that a codom (red) X codom (white) gave you red and white spots. but an incomplete gene takes from both parrents and gives you a total different color (pink). not to be confused with a "super"
spooky

[The Serpent Merchant]

i was under the impression that a codom (red) X codom (white) gave you red and white spots. but an incomplete gene takes from both parrents and gives you a total different color (pink). not to be confused with a "super"
spooky

I think that in actual genetics that you are correct. But in the ball python world it is used interchangeably with co-dom

[aalomon]

i was under the impression that a codom (red) X codom (white) gave you red and white spots. but an incomplete gene takes from both parrents and gives you a total different color (pink). not to be confused with a "super"
spooky

Exactly. Pastel x Cinny gives you a pewter which looks different from both of the parents, but its not a pied looking thing with spots of pastel and spots of cinny.

Like other people have said, the genes we refer to as codom are actually incomplete dominant genes.

[Annarose15]

Just to play devil's advocate - How about Spinners? I know we call pinstripe and spider genes dominant, but the combination is very different (to me).

[aalomon]

Again, they would be incomplete dominant.

In the reptile community we tend to call morphs that have a super codom and morphs that dont dom. Its more for our sake than to try to be correct.

[Annarose15]

Again, they would be incomplete dominant.

In the reptile community we tend to call morphs that have a super codom and morphs that dont dom. Its more for our sake than to try to be correct.

I love it when my logic isn't totally crazy!

[paulh]

Incomplete dominant gene... What is it, and is there a BP that represents this?
thanks
spooky

The pro geneticists have coined over a dozen terms (more or less synonymous) for genes that do not fit the traditional dominant vs recessive pattern discovered by Gregor Mendel.

When you pair an incomplete dominant mutant gene with a normal gene, you get a creature that looks more or less intermediate between one with two normal genes and one with two copies of the mutant gene. This is because the mutant gene is nonfunctional while the normal gene is functional, but the normal gene cannot compensate for the nonfunctional mutant. In other words, one normal gene can only produce about half as much product as two normal genes. This is the pattern shown by flowers where the two normal genes produce red flowers, two mutant genes produce white flowers, and a normal gene paired with a mutant gene produce pink flowers.

When you pair a codominant mutant gene with a normal gene, you get a creature that looks more or less intermediate between one with two normal genes and one with two copies of the mutant gene. Or is more extreme in some way. Or, if the test is very sensitive (like bloodtyping), the phenotype of both genes can be detected. This is because both the mutant gene and normal gene are functional, and both genes affect the animals appearance. The human sickle cell gene produces abnormal hemoglobin and is codominant to the normal hemoglobin gene -- two sickle cell genes produce severe anemia, two normal genes produce no anemia, a sickle cell gene paired with a normal gene produces mild anemia.

For simplicity, we lump all of this sort of mutant together under the term "codominant". We could have used any of a number of terms, but codominant has the fewest characters to write.

Is pastel a codominant mutant gene or an incomplete dominant mutant gene? Nobody knows because nobody has worked out whether the pastel mutant gene has a functional or nonfunctional product. As far as I know, the same goes for every other ball python mutant gene that we label codominant.